The Great Lerg Mystery of 2011 5/3

May 3rd, 2011

I’m getting questions on the blog and on Twitter about Bryan Lerg. Although we are deeply embedded in the fog of playoffs, where straightforward information is hard to find, I don’t think this really is much of a mystery.

Lerg is dealing with an injury. It appears to me to be lower body in nature. He missed Games 5 and 6 against Norfolk and Game 1 against Charlotte. He played in Game 2 against Charlotte in a limited capacity as a power-play specialist. He tried to play last night in Game 3 but could not go.

That’s the risk you take when you dress a player who is recovering from an injury. He could re-aggravate it and you’ll be down a man. It’s not really all that unusual, especially in the playoffs, for something like this to happen.

Want to have some fun? Try to interpret the last sentence of this quote from coach John Hynes when I asked him after today’s practice about Lerg’s status for tomorrow night’s game.

“He is day to day. He should be ready to go tomorrow. Probably full strength. Just a mishap last night. If he’s going to play, I’m going to play him.”

Hynes said he doesn’t plan to call anyone up from Wheeling. The only reason that question is being asked is that Joey Haddad is playing well for the Nailers. He’s fifth in the ECHL in playoff scoring with six goals and six assists in 13 games.

So if Lerg can’t go, Jesse Boulerice and Paul Thompson are the candidates to dress. Both obviously bring different elements to the table. There’s also a possibility, I guess, that Boulerice and Thompson could play and the Penguins could go back to 12 forwards and six defensemen, probably scratching Carl Sneep.

Here’s what Hynes had to say about his lineup decisions: “I do like to really evaluate the game on video afterwards and see who we liked, what we didn’t like, what the rhythm of our team was, if we address something on the special teams based on who’s healthy, who’s not healthy, who’s playing well. I’m not sure yet.”

Again, not much insight there, right?

Either way, all this amounts to much ado about a couple of roster spots. In the bigger picture, the Penguins are going to need to find that little extra jump and snarl that they had in Game 2 but didn’t have in Game 3.

As for today’s events, there was a team meeting at the Time Warner Cable Arena followed by a skate by the black aces (Ekbom, Boulerice, Thompson, Schnell, Curry, Pechurskiy, Nasreddine, Guerin). Ben Street, who is out with an undisclosed injury, also skated, but in a limited capacity, far from full speed.

Between the meeting and the skate, I talked to Hynes, Chris Collins and Geoff Walker and they all used the same phrase, which leads me to believe that was the theme of the meeting.

Hynes: “More importantly for me, we have to play our best hockey. We haven’t played our best hockey yet this series.”

Walker: “Right now, we’re down 2-1, but I don’t think we’ve got to our game yet. Once we get to our game, I’m confident things will go our way.”

Collins: “We haven’t played our game yet. If we were playing our best game and we were losing, that would be one thing, but I think we have a lot better games ahead of us.”

That’s obviously the theme heading into Game 4. Does it work for you as a motivational tactic?

Two, I had lunch at a restaurant on Fireball Roberts Road yesterday. That’s awesome. Old school NASCAR rules. I’m considering going to a race shop one of these days — probably Earnhardt-Ganassi, cause Ganassi is a Pittsburgh guy — but I’m concerned because I won’t have any clue what the hell I’ll be looking at. I mean, the most difficult piece of car repair I ever attempted was replacing a headlight bulb. For me, going to a NASCAR race shop would be like sitting in on an engineering meeting at NASA.

That is the greatest line of coachspeak I’ve ever heard…and I deal with Bill Belichick quotes more than I care to admit.

Joe

I guess the moral of the story is they still havent showed up for the series. Do they show up sooner than later or will it be too late…From what i gathered the team is in great spirits and pretty healthy..I hope they turn it on Wednesday and get 2 wins and come home to clinch Saturday…I am no where near ready to wait for next year again!

http://nafsnep.wordpress.com nafsnep

Thoughts:

1) Hynes would make for a hell of a politician if this coaching thing doesn’t work out, that’s for sure.

2) If WBS is to win this series, it is going to need to be in 6 or 7 games. Not a lot of time to rest nagging injuries in the form of Lerg / Street. Especially with a pretty rested Binghamton team waiting in the wings, provided they wrap their series up with Portland tonight.

3) The boys are saying all the right things. But actions speak louder, all that, yadda yadda. I’d argue that we have yet to see the Pens play a complete game going back to the Norfolk series. It was like a light switch shut off when the playoffs started with these defensize zone turnovers. Never is it a “we got this” feeling when watching, more like a “I hope we don’t screw up” feeling.

I am still standing by my Pens in 6 prediction. We win tomorrow to even the series, Friday to take the lead then with the comforts of home send the Checkers to the golf course Sunday by taking the series Saturday.

Re: car talk, I change my oil with a credit card. I’m lucky I know how to pump gas. I consider changing a headlight a major automotive accomplishment.

nailersfan66

May I assume the quote you’re speaking of has to do with Sweet Adult Jesus? lol

Franco

We need Lerg. I hope he gets back to 100% ASAP. If not, call up Haddad. I think we can correct this because I feel we outplayed them in every game, the difference is we need to be physical like game 2. I still say we win in 7 in OT. But I wouldn’t be shocked as I stated this would be the team that would knock us off if we do lose when the Johnson/Tangradi crap went down

BAE

If it rains, then I’ll say it rains.

http://www.chasingcheckers.com ChasingCheckers

Definitely check out a race shop while you are here. The Rousch and Hendrick ones (which are really close to each other and not very far away from downtown) have a great museum component to them that is interesting, even if you know nothing about the “sport.”

Lets Go Checkers!

http://twitter.com/#!/TonyAndrock TonyAndrock

@Franco
No need to recall Haddad. I liked Paul Thompson’s play so far in WBS and he played well in Game 2. I say Lerg out for Thompson. Blog post coming up soon on HPH with my insights.

Haha just to get yelled at some more: Tom Kuhnhackl !!

That is all.

chad

just shake your head and say woow that’s cool and they will never suspect that you are lost lol

chad

forgot also repeat some things they say to you. I do all of that in most conversations that I am lost in and usually look like I am actually smart however joke is on them lol

@pensfan100

We cant call up haddad. As great as hes playing if we called him up we would be no better than Pittsburgh. Dont get me wrong, Street and Petersen have played great and they deserve their spot on the WBS team, but we hit Wheeling hard with callups. Essentially, Street/Petersen= Johnson/Tangradi. Pittsburgh screwed more than one team by not anticipating the injuries and the consequences of the callups. But hey, best of all is that pitt got embarassed by Tampa Bay, decisively knocked out of the first round, and are forced to keep 3 of Wbs best players, and essentially 2 of Wheelings best players! Thanks Ray Shero! You’re the best GM we could ever wish for! You’ve done a great job ruining 3 teams’ seasons! On behalf of every Wbs and Wheeling fan who now completely despise you, i say Thank You for your “help”, and PLEASE stop “helping” us!

frankie2003

@pensfan100 :
We cant call up haddad. As great as hes playing if we called him up we would be no better than Pittsburgh. Dont get me wrong, Street and Petersen have played great and they deserve their spot on the WBS team, but we hit Wheeling hard with callups. Essentially, Street/Petersen= Johnson/Tangradi. Pittsburgh screwed more than one team by not anticipating the injuries and the consequences of the callups. But hey, best of all is that pitt got embarassed by Tampa Bay, decisively knocked out of the first round, and are forced to keep 3 of Wbs best players, and essentially 2 of Wheelings best players! Thanks Ray Shero! You’re the best GM we could ever wish for! You’ve done a great job ruining 3 teams’ seasons! On behalf of every Wbs and Wheeling fan who now completely despise you, i say Thank You for your “help”, and PLEASE stop “helping” us!

Um… do you have any idea what you are talking about? I can’t even address this post.

Jason

@pensfan100 :
You’ve done a great job ruining 3 teams’ seasons! On behalf of every Wbs and Wheeling fan who now completely despise you, i say Thank You for your “help”, and PLEASE stop “helping” us!

@frankie2003
Couldn’t agree more, now we know why the ban on bath salts is needed. If the the Pens lose this series I will not complain that we had a bad season or a bad run. Hands down this is best team I have seen in a long time. The best part is Shero is still building the depth!

Brendag

There is no shame to losing to Tampa just ask the Capitals! Pittsburgh just didn’t have the firepower without Sidney and Malkin. Take Ovie off the Caps and see what kind of theam that would be. Tampa might just win the Stanley Cup! Tampa Boston is going to be a great series!

ndmike

what is wrong with Shero. Since Crosby didnt play for a while he should of sent him down. Malkin is skating again but when you look a the clear day, neither is on it. Shero clearly doesnt want win the calder cup this year. hahahaha.

BAE

What are these guys saying about Pittsburgh. Gee, we are still in the playoffs. Could the lineup be better. Not at this time. That’s life. All of the teams under pittsburgh did excellent under dire circumstances. And that Sherror did not see the injuries coming? Oh swami, who is going to get injured next week, next month? Really? Let’s do this and Let’s go Pens!!

Franco

Game 4 at CHT- Pens 2-0
Game 5 at CHT- Pens 4-2
Game 6 at WB/S- Char 2-1
Game 7 at WB/S- Pens 5-4 (OT)

jreeders518

Franco, if you are correct, I should pass away sometime in the third period of game seven.

Babypens99

@pensfan100 :We cant call up haddad. As great as hes playing if we called him up we would be no better than Pittsburgh. Dont get me wrong, Street and Petersen have played great and they deserve their spot on the WBS team, but we hit Wheeling hard with callups. Essentially, Street/Petersen= Johnson/Tangradi. Pittsburgh screwed more than one team by not anticipating the injuries and the consequences of the callups. But hey, best of all is that pitt got embarassed by Tampa Bay, decisively knocked out of the first round, and are forced to keep 3 of Wbs best players, and essentially 2 of Wheelings best players! Thanks Ray Shero! You’re the best GM we could ever wish for! You’ve done a great job ruining 3 teams’ seasons! On behalf of every Wbs and Wheeling fan who now completely despise you, i say Thank You for your “help”, and PLEASE stop “helping” us!

HUH???

Brendag

Pittsburgh didn’t screw any team Pittsburgh is number 1 in this organization their priorities come first. Its like a food chain. Injuries hit this organization really hard and Pitt needed our help thats just the way it goes Johnson Tangradi and Jeffrey got hurt and because NHL rules couldn’t be sent down injured on clear day. That Ahl Rule has to change. I think they should set a limit of how many Ahl games a player has spent in the Ahl to be puy on the roster. or make special previsions for injured Ahl players on a Nhl rosters come clear day. We got screwed by the AHL not Shero!@@pensfan100

Rg

What I don’t understand is, since Tangradi is well and played for Pittsburgh in the playoffs, he should be allowed to return. A situation like this should be an exemption to the rule. You are hurting the player by not allowing him to continue his development.

jreeders518

Shero could have signed someone for us. Dont be so naive. He chose not to.

Penguin Power

+1 Brendag.

Pitt.winning the Cup is the only priority plain and simple.
WB/S winning the Calder Cup is secondary if it happens great.

frankie2003

jreeders518 :
Shero could have signed someone for us. Dont be so naive. He chose not to.

Like…. Ryan Potulny?

jreeders518

@frankie…yes just like Potulny. But he didnt. we still have a great team. need a W tonight. get the fruity beer.

Franco

The guys need to come out and hit hard early and often. The scoring first stuff is out the window now that we lost last game after scoring first.

frankie2003

jreeders518 :
@frankie…yes just like Potulny. But he didnt. we still have a great team. need a W tonight. get the fruity beer.

Fruity beer only works if I’ll be at the game… and unfortunately a trip to charlotte was not in the works, gotta fly out west for an interview early next week.

Red

@Pensfan100

What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this blog is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

@pensfan100

Ok. Yeah. your all right. seriously. my rant was out of line. I was going insane thinking about the Senators getting stacked and pretty much taking the north division already, so i ranted. I’m sincerely sorry, but honestly, “may god have mercy on my soul”? Its a bit much. How about this, in exchange for me staying rational, everyone stop hating me for one thing i said? But as far as what i said in my rant i still stand by it. Not the fact that i went postal and ranted like a madman (which i am honestly sorry for) but what i said. I should have ranted less and been more clear.
Tampa Bay embarrassed us, to be up 3-1 and lose 3 straight? That’s bad. Tampa Bay has an excellent team, but we needed 1 win and we couldn’t get it. Brendag, the only shame is HOW we lost, not that we did. At the trade deadline, many of you mocking me said the same thing (minus the rant) about Shero doing nothing about the loss of Johnson/Tangradi and, at the very least, not getting us reinforcements for elsewhere. The Shero thing was exaggerated by me (Yeah, i was a stupid idiot, not denying it), but even if he didn’t screw us, he sure didn’t help us out. Just look back to the trade deadline comments on THIS blog, there were well over 100 comments and people were going insane hearing the news about Johnson/Tangradi! So either you can rip apart what I just said and i promise you will never read a stupid post from me again, or accept that what i did was stupid and move on. At the very least, consider what i said now that I’m clearheaded and comment on how right/wrong i am about what happened to this team.

jreeders518

I think you are right but it is just too late to worry about that now. We have who we have. We won quite a few games with the team we have. They should have gotten us someone else but they didn’t. We were all pissed about that. I think they can beat Charlotte and Binghamton. If they don’t……….? Maybe it is time to fire Botterill. Maybe he didnt impress upon Shero we needed more people. Maybe the big Pens would rather our season be over. Maybe Pontius and Caeser can convince “Here” to come home!!!!! My money is on them two!!!!!

Pontius

BRING THE SERIES BACK “HERE”

http://citizensvoice joe

We win tonight this series should be all but ours…This is a must win for us no doubt and if what happen over the last month and a half wasnt a fluke then we should win and continue on through the playoffs…PHYSICAL is the only word that comes to mind for us in this series do they bring it tonight? LETS DO THIS!

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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